If they want to change the title, that’s fine. After all, “it’s their project,” says Thomas Macomber, adjunct professor at La Sierra University in California. This is the whole idea behind “A Sound Connection,” which may turn out to be an entirely different name in the end. But, for now, this is what describes a vision to “tap into the talent” of young people attending Seventh-day Adventist schools “using music as a powerful witnessing tool.”

A key feature to this music project, Macomber says, is allowing the young adults themselves to own the project. “Using a college class seems to be the missing ingredient. Who can network among young adults better than the young adults themselves?”

The project? A music CD sampler featuring Adventist youth and young adults from North America as performers and songwriters. Young people will also produce, record and distribute this sampler free to other young people.

This spring, the La Sierra University School of Business is creating an upper level class for students to take for college credit. One responsibility of the class is to coordinate the project.

“Students will study a curriculum that includes components of small business start-ups, small business management, marketing, promotion, business law including copyright and intellectual property law, and product design. Students will simultaneously apply these principles to the project,” he says. They will also market the idea to young adults in churches and schools. 

“It’s a grand experiment. Music is the universal language,” Macomber says, adding that he believes the project will get a positive response from both church leadership and members.

A committee has been formed to oversee the project. “Ultimately somebody has to make sure it goes with church objectives and standards,” Macomber, who is working on the project with Dr. John Thomas, Dean of the School of Business at La Sierra, explains.

At 47, Macomber says he’s “an old guy,” and will “try not to get in the way of the class,” but will “try to give the class the tools” they need to carry out the music project. The target age for musical artists is from high school to mid to late twenties.

Macomber is also a practicing attorney and owns his own music production company, Walkin’ on Water Records (http://wowrec.com). He plays banjo in a Christian bluegrass band called The Summer Church Band, which has received international praise. The group performed at the world church headquarters during the worship services of the Annual Council in October 2005.

A similar CD project, called KaleidosCQpe, was recently released by the Collegiate Quarterly (CQ) of the Adventist Church. This was targeted to any genre that doesn’t have an outlet, according to Gary Swanson, editor of CQ. With CQ’s emphasis on participation in print, they decided to carry that to music as well. “What CQ has been about from the start ... is giving people a chance to participate in ministry,” Swanson said in an earlier ANN article.

Falvo Fowler, who originally came up with the idea for the KaleidosCQpe CD, and with a second KaleidosCQpe CD coming out later this year, believes there’s a lot of great talent within the Adventist Church that’s not being recognized, or is just simply not known about. He is in full support of the A Sound Connection project. “We need to validate the contributions and talents of young people, because if we don’t they will go somewhere else that appreciates the talent that God blessed them with.”

Also a potential first within the church is a praise and worship DVD featuring up-and-coming Adventist artists. This would be produced by the Church Resource Center in North America.